Mind Games
by would-be-writer-99
Summary: What if Dr. Hannibal Lecter never got caught and continued to practice psychiatry? Maybe Clarice Starling was one of his patients. What might have happened?


Title: Mind Games

Description: What if Dr. Hannibal Lecter had never been caught and continued to practice psychiatry. Maybe Clarice was one of his patients. Technically an alternate universe.

Fandom: Silence of the Lambs (is this even a fandom?)

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything belongs to its rightful owners.

Note: This is my first fanfiction and I hope someone out there likes it. I look forward to reviews and would love constructive criticism. This is told in Hannibal's point of view. The fluff contained in this piece is similar to a teddy bear's guts.

I read over my next patient's file in the dim light of my study. Her name was Clarice Starling, daughter of a deceased police officer and mental patient. Not exactly an in-and-out-of-mental-institutions-since-the death-of-her-father-case but it was interesting. The file said that she worked for the behavioral sciences unit in the F.B.I. I felt a slow, devious smile spread across my face. This one was going to be fun to pick apart. I set the file aside, flicked the light off, smoothed my silk pajamas, and fell into a deep sleep.

I awoke the next morning and drove to my office in time to meet my first patient. Julia Simmons. Abused by her father and traumatized by her mother. As a result she had multiple personalty disorder. It wasn't debilitating enough to prevent her from functioning but it was a problem. As we entered my office she took her seat on my couch and I the chair across from her.

"Hello Julia. How have you been?"

All of my appointments were finished but one. I sat at my desk with my head in my hands feeling exasperated. Why can't my patients do as I ask? I do not ask impossible things of them. I looked at the next file on my desk and remembered that my next patient was the F.B.I agent, Clarice Starling. Just as I saw this I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in." I said as she entered. She was wearing a navy skirt, white blouse, and matching navy blazer. Typical for a F.B.I agent. She smelled of lemons and mint. She may have been drinking tea. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a heavy southern accent.

"Hello Dr. Lecter. My name is Clarice Starling."

"Hello Mrs. Starling, please do sit." She sat down on the couch. She looked calm but that was just an exterior the F.B.I. drills into you. No, underneath that calm exterior I am willing to bet that she is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. My job was to figure out how to detonate it.

"Now Mrs. Starling, what seems to be the issue."

"Well, Dr. Lecter, when I was a little girl, my dad got shot. Quite a shock for a young girl."

"Yes Mrs. Starling, quite a shock, but you're not a young girl anymore. Why are you really here?"

"Well you're better than the other psychiatrist I went to. I told him that and he basically said that I had daddy-issues.", she laughed. It was a lighthearted laugh that one would use when trying to gain someones trust. She was trying to profile me. Sadly for her, I don't crack that easily.

"Around three months ago one of our officers was shot. I didn't even now him all that well. But when I saw him get shot I blacked out. I thought that this might have just been the shock of seeing someone shot, but then I started to have nightmares. These nightmares caused me to loose sleep and not focus on the job. My boss wanted me to get psychiatric help."

"What were these nightmares about?"

She sighed. "At first they were about my father but then they were about me. I was shooting someone. And then I-", she faltered, "I don't want you to think I am crazy, but I began to sleepwalk when I was awake. I never remember what happened and I end up at the most random places. It hasn't interfered with my job yet but it has come close to it."

"Mrs. Staring, I would never think that you were crazy. I know what crazy looks like, trust me, it is not as charming as you."

"Thank you Dr. Lecter. Please call me Clarice." Oh, this poor girl. Still trying to establish trust. Step one of detonation.

"And you may call me Hannibal. One of your problems, whether it be habit or the fact that I am a stranger to you, is that you are trying to profile me."

"I was. Not habit. Just that you are a stranger to me. Well Dr. Lecter I think that our thirty minutes is up."

"Yes I believe you are right." She stood and walked to the door. "Clarice?" She turned.

"Yes, Dr. Lecter."

"You don't need to profile me to make me an acquaintance. I am having a dinner party Morrow night. Perhaps you would like to come?"

"I will check my schedule. Thank you Dr. Lecter."

"Clarice"

"Yes?"

"We talk more about your 'day-walking' next time. And, for the second time, it's Hannibal." She smiled and turned. I was going to have some fun playing mind games with this one.

Note: I hope somebody likes this. Even if nobody does I will upload another chapter soon. Thank you for reading!


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